Off-the-Clock Work

The Hidden Violation

The law says hourly workers should be paid for every hour of work, whether it is approved by your employer or not. So, what do bad employers do when payroll costs get too high? Among other things, they work their employees “off-the-clock.” That’s when we step in.

The most common examples of off-the-clock work involve (1) demanding that hourly workers under-report their work time, and (2) employees being told to “punch out” but then continue working, or “punch in” late. Today, all sorts of interesting ways of under-reporting work time exist–electronically “shaving” hours from computerized payroll records, denying “unauthorized” overtime pay, requiring employees to perform extra job functions (e.g., donning protective clothing, setting up their workstations, performing unrelated administrative functions), or traveling to remote locations before clocking in. Even a few minutes unlawfully shaved here and there can add up to an enormous (and enormously illegal) cost savings to a large company. If anything like this has happened to you, contact us. We can fix that.

This information is for illustrative and educational purposes only. It should not be construed as legal advice, the establishment of an attorney-client relationship, or as indicative of a particular outcome regarding any legal issue you might have.